#Note/Permanent #CognitiveScience
[Cognition](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognition) is the mental process of acquiring knowledge and understanding through perception, thought, and experience. It serves as the foundation for humans to perceive information from both the external world and internal mind, process this information, and then generate an output that affects the state of the external world or the internal mind.
```mermaid
graph BT
subgraph a [external world]
direction TB
entity["environment,\nother minds"]
info{{information}}
entity --Generates--> info
end
subgraph b [internal mind]
direction TB
i_input{{"thoughts,\nexperience,\nimagination"}}
core["knowledge,\nmemory,\nintelligence"]
processing{"reasoning,\nevaluation,\njudgment,\ncomputation,\ndecision-making,\nproblem-solving,\ncomprehension"}
core --Generates--> i_input
i_input--Feeds--> processing
end
info --Feeds--> processing
processing --"Responses"-->entity
processing --"Refines"-->core
```
**Perception:**
- **From the external world**: This includes information received through our senses from the environment and interactions with other beings.
- **From the internal mind**: Comprises our own thoughts, memory, and imagination.
**Processing:**
- Involves complex cognitive activities such as reasoning, evaluation, judgment, computation, decision-making, problem-solving, and comprehension.
**Outcome:**
- **External world**: Actions or words that influence the state of the external world.
- **Internal mind**: The formation and refinement of knowledge, memory, and intelligence.